February was a difficult month for me. I lost my mother and had to come to grips with everything that meant. Now it’s March, and it’s time to go back to some kind of normality.

“Nearly 100 Polish municipal or local governments have now proclaimed themselves to be ‘free from LGBTI ideology’,” Emma Powys Maurice of Pink News writes. “Local authorities in these areas pledge to refrain from acts that encourage tolerance and must avoid providing financial assistance to NGOs working to promote equal rights.”

“As it turns out, there is hardly a single communist regime of the past half-century for which Sanders has not expressed some level of moral support,” Ben Shapiro of Real Clear Politics writes. “Sanders isn’t a European social democrat, warm toward Denmark and Norway. He’s a lifelong communist—a man who declared himself fully on board with the nationalization of nearly every major American industry in the 1970s—and an advocate for anti-Americanism abroad.”

One of Sweden’s greatest actors has died at the age of 90. Among many classic films, Max von Sydow acted in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957) and in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973).

“The mayor of a small French town on Tuesday defended hosting a record-breaking gathering of 3,500 people dressed as Smurfs at the weekend, after accusations that the event increased the risks of spreading the coronavirus,” AFP writes.

“The government has extended measures in place in the former ‘red zones’ of northern Italy worst-hit by the deadly coronavirus to the whole nation of over 60 million people,” ANSA writes.

Donald Trump bans travelling between United States and European Union. Schools are closed down in Norway, Denmark, Ireland, and other European countries. The Danish Parliament has been suspended. Panic is spreading faster than the virus.

We’re doomed!

שבת שלום

“The most popular conspiracy theory is that Jews are using this virus as a means for profit,” Alex Friedfeld of the Anti-Defamation League says.

The coronavirus outbreak has made the world a strange place. Here, in Europe, borders are closed and people are ordered to stay indoors. And for some reason, Swedes are stockpiling toilet paper.

I haven’t had the energy to post anything this week. The world has gone nuts over the coronavirus. Everything is closed and cities are deserted. The UEFA European Championship and Eurovision Song Contest are cancelled. Every political debate is no overtaken by consensus. Trump is still an idiot, but more toned down—he even seems to listen to medical experts!

Privately, I’m most absent about all flight being cancelled. I was supposed to have two weeks off work to go to my flat in Spain. That’s been cancelled, too.

Two males came across corn wine and passed out drunk in a nearby garden, Jane Lavender and Paige Holland of Daily Mirror reports.

George Heath-Whyte tears Dawkins to shreds. It’s a fun read. The old atheist activist is so convinced of the truth that he forgets it.

Read the full thread on Twitter.

Source: World Health Organisation

Outbreak situation
Confirmed cases	413,467
Confirmed deaths	18,433
Countries with cases	197

“Push by Italy and Spain for new financial instruments faces resistance from Germany and the Netherlands,” Politico writes.

Europhobes will say this is a problem for EU federalism, I’d say it’s a problem for EU intergovernmentalism.

Source: World Health Organisation

Outbreak situation
Confirmed cases	465,915
Confirmed deaths	21,031
Countries with cases	200

It’s Friday afternoon—שבת שלום.

Source: World Health Organisation

Outbreak situation
Confirmed cases	638,146
Confirmed deaths	30,105
Countries with cases	203